Wandering through East London yesterday I decided to pop in to The V & A Museum of Childhood, and was pleasantly surprised at the inspiration, innovation and fantastical imagination celebrated throughout the exhibits within.
I found myself jealous of the children shrieking and running between the glass cases as they played in the present around the preserved games of the past. Ancient chinese shadow puppets with their intricate laced holes and painted faces glanced across at African wire toys, lovingly hand-bound by their child owners; English doll prototypes lolled about with their waxen heads on sticks, destined to remain that way forever as their matching bodies were never made; while rocking horses and carriages of all kinds were suspended from their careers of swinging back and forth, indefinitely paused in delighting their riders whether they had been adoringly bodged by hand or crafted from the finest wood, and sewn with real horse hair manes which now hung unstroked in thick swathes down their dappled necks.
Despite these well-loved wonders being encased in glass, the joy and excitement they had given could still be felt, as if it permeated from the very plastic, wood and wax with which they were created.
How play has changed over the years. I found myself reminiscing at the pink haired trolls, Sooty and Sweep puppets and colourful Lego which has defined childhoods across the 80s and 90s, and happily remembered scraped knees, grass stained shorts and the odd bruise from tree-climbing, river-paddling and scampering about in the grass. I was shocked to read the results of a Play England study from 2011, which said that 32% of contemporary children had never climbed a tree, 25% had never rolled down a hill, 47% of adults had built a den every week as a child, but 29% of children had never built one, and 33% had never played hopscotch. Unsurprisingly, 'unsupervised roaming' has decreased 90% since the 1970s, prompting The National Trust to launch a consultation on what they are terming a 'nature deficit disorder - the growing dissociation of children from the natural world'. Street games and exploring have been replaced with screens and security, but what effect will this have on the next generation of children?
And how should children be seen in public? A group of teenagers kicking a football on a South London estate in 2012 has a very different image from East end children playing hopscotch in the 60s, but it is still outdoor play. Young people climbing over a wall or exploring their urban environment is even further distanced from their romanticised predecessors climbing a tree or skipping happily through a field. I wonder if this kind of outdoor interaction was included in the survey, or if it is solely and actively discouraged as anti-social behaviour?
On a recent trip to my family home I found a book called 'Children's Games', a sure go-to for my mum on party planning for her two young daughters, and still with folded up papers (some written in my 7 year old self's neatest handwriting) of lists of games we played and played over the years. From Sleeping Lions, to Kim's Game, Pin the Tail on the Donkey, What's the Time Mr. Wolf?, and of course, endless making things - masks, hats, bags, cakes: drawing and cutting and sticking to our hearts content. 'Children's Games' includes games far beyond weather-permitting parties however - revealing the secrets to old street games which are now long forgotten. I wonder if they could be introduced again on the streets of South London...
Pembroke People
Eleanor Shipman
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